Chapter 217: Domain (1)
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 217: Domain (1)
Upon reaching the northernmost tip of Shaanxi, Seo-jun discovered a faint trace.
It was a microscopic vestige, entirely undetectable unless one possessed an extraordinary sensitivity to Qi. In other words, it was a trail that the vast majority of martial artists in the Central Plains would have completely overlooked.
However, for Namgung Jin-cheon, finding this trace would not have been difficult at all.
A strange sense of foreboding washing over him, Seo-jun unfolded his Primordial Unity Steps and rapidly tracked the trail.
Suddenly, a massive surge of Qi erupted in the distance. It was so overwhelmingly powerful that even Seo-jun felt a momentary chill run down his spine.
‘A collision between masters in the Transcendent Realm.’
A deep urgency welled up within him. Pushing his Primordial Unity Steps to their absolute limit, Seo-jun accelerated.
KWAAAAAAAANG—!!
He arrived at a desert. What remained of the battlefield were several corpses, a dying Namgung Jin-cheon, and an unconscious Namgung Yeon.
Seo-jun’s eyes trembled, wandering aimlessly in shock.
“Son-in-law…”
“This… no…! How…!”
“It is a pity… that I won’t be able to see the engagement ceremony…”
It was impossible to believe. That father-in-law? Who on earth could have done this? Was there anyone in the Central Plains even capable of such a feat?
Who in this world could possibly reduce the Greatest Under Heaven to such a wretched state?
‘How could this happen…’
Seo-jun immediately attempted to gather natural energy to stimulate Namgung Jin-cheon’s recovery. However, the man's injuries were far more than merely physical. Alongside devastating internal trauma, his very existence had suffered a fatal blow.
Seo-jun knew that healing him was near impossible.
‘No, there’s no such thing as impossible.’
Even so, he couldn’t just stand by and watch. He desperately tried everything to keep the man breathing.
However, Namgung Jin-cheon gently refused even that.
“Do not… I must move forward now as well…”
“If you want to move forward, you have to heal your body first…!”
“No… My path does not lie here…”
As he spoke, Namgung Jin-cheon’s expression was perfectly serene. In a way, he even looked happy.
Seo-jun couldn’t understand it. Why was he welcoming death so readily?
It was too sudden. One unprepared farewell in his life had already been more than enough.
Memories of the past flashed vividly through Seo-jun’s mind. The traumatizing image of his father dying from a stab wound overlapped with the bleeding figure of Namgung Jin-cheon.
“Son-in-law…”
“…Yes.”
“Be careful… for I could not bring it to an end…”
Why was he worrying about Seo-jun even in his dying moments?
“Of course, I believe you will do well…”
Why did he trust him so much?
They were strangers who had only met recently. Their sole connection was the fact that Seo-jun was his daughter’s future husband. And yet, why did his heart feel like it was being violently ripped apart?
Disbelief.
Soon, Namgung Jin-cheon’s breath stopped. Loss.
A suffocating sense of reality tightened around his throat, and the agonizing emotions he had tried so hard to look away from were thrust before his eyes once more.
“We meet again. Take that unconscious Namgung brat and go back. If you withdraw quietly, I won’t stop you.”
The feeling wasn’t unfamiliar. It was an emotion he knew all too well.
He had felt it deeply enough when his father was stabbed to death right before his eyes. This crushing sense of loss that felt like his insides were being twisted and constricted.
He had thought he would never lose anything ever again—that not even time could take anything from him anymore.
But the reality thrust before the man who had been averting his gaze was mercilessly cruel.
“Ah…”
As he confronted the emotions he had so desperately avoided, his divinity finally crossed the boundary.
Everything he should have slowly accepted over time was instead driven into his mind all at once. His bloated spirit used the surrounding space as its essence and Qi to find balance, and his insight, reborn as a more complete existence, accepted reality.
Namgung Jin-cheon was dead. He would never see him again.
The man would never see the engagement ceremony he had looked forward to so much, nor the wedding that would follow, nor his grandchildren playing—nothing.
No, he had been made unable to see them.
“Arrogant brat.”
The Giryeon Sect Leader clicked his tongue and formed a hand seal. He had already consumed a great deal of power, but not so much that a mere child could challenge him.
Twisting Heaven and Overturning Earth.
Heaven and earth inverted. He intended to finish the boy quickly before he could fully adapt to the Transcendent Realm.
SWEEEEEEEEE—!!
The shimmering space stretched out and lunged at Seo-jun like a beast. Seo-jun saw it all clearly with his crimson eyes.
Slash—
The Heaven-Defying Sun-Moon Astral Qi manifested in the air, slicing cleanly through space. The Giryeon Sect Leader’s sorcery scattered into nothingness.
“Tsk.”
Was it that troublesome technique again? The Giryeon Sect Leader clicked his tongue. Simultaneously, Seo-jun’s Qi Swords shot toward him.
The Giryeon Sect Leader’s fingers traced a bizarre pattern in the air.
Woooong—!
Space warped, and the Qi Swords abruptly turned back to target their master. They appeared right in front of Seo-jun’s face.
But Seo-jun was not pierced by the Qi Swords. Fwah! The blades naturally dispersed into raw energy and began to orbit his body.
As Seo-jun stared at the Giryeon Sect Leader with glowing crimson eyes, a sudden realization struck him.
He thought of the man he had encountered at the North Sea Ice Palace. Radiant flowers had bloomed around Je Cheon-hyeok’s corpse. If one followed the traces of those blooming flowers and looked up, a clear, boundless sky awaited.
‘You finally completed it.’
The Life Sword. Otherwise known as the Heart Sword.
It was a path Namgung Jin-cheon had desperately forged to cure his wife’s chronic illness, but it was a sword that had lost its meaning because he had been too late.
‘So that was it.’
He had finally left to meet the wife he missed so dearly.
Swoosh—!
The Giryeon Sect Leader’s sorcery flew at him relentlessly.
Seo-jun did not move a single inch from his spot. All sorts of thoughts cluttered his mind.
The unconscious Namgung Yeon. Namgung Jin-cheon’s lifeless body. The broken sword lying quietly beside him.
‘At the very least, the things you tried to protect…’
I will carry on your will and protect them.
A crimson energy welled up deep within Seo-jun’s eyes. At the same time, he reached out his hand. Then, he clenched it into a fist.
All Qi within the domain came to a simultaneous, grinding halt.
The Giryeon Sect Leader’s eyes widened in shock. Seo-jun slowly opened his clenched hand.
Fwah—!
The domain expanded endlessly, swallowing the world.
“What kind of domain is this…”
The Giryeon Sect Leader let out a hollow laugh. Seo-jun simply watched him in absolute silence.
Because his Qi—the bridge connecting his spirit and essence—was far superior to anyone else’s, his domain was also infinitely vaster than anyone else’s.
“You’re doing something useless.”
Swaaaa—! At the Giryeon Sect Leader’s gesture, the desert sand surged upward.
A massive tidal wave of sand was violently compressed between the Giryeon Sect Leader’s palms, swiftly taking the shape of a long, dense spear.
A wide domain meant nothing on its own. What truly mattered was the domain’s solidity and its utility.
As the Giryeon Sect Leader reached out, the sand spear leaped directly through space. It hadn’t worked against Namgung Jin-cheon, who could return space itself to nothingness, but it would surely be different for anyone else.
The stitched space tore open, and the sand spear fired out right in front of Seo-jun's face.
It was completely meaningless.
Puhwah!
The sand spear shattered upon impact and began to orbit Seo-jun like a docile satellite. The Giryeon Sect Leader’s eyes flickered with disbelief.
‘…The sorcery.’
It wasn’t working. This was entirely different from Namgung Jin-cheon. All Qi within this space followed that brat’s absolute control. The very sand he had just been manipulating was now orbiting the boy, actively guarding him.
The moment the Giryeon Sect Leader’s expression distorted into an ugly scowl, Seo-jun looked deep into his own heart.
The mental imagery, tangled and chaotic, was dizzying to behold.
‘True Self.’
He remembered the fool he had met at Tianshan.
Had he said that humans can never fully understand others?
He was right. It was only natural. If one were truly omniscient regarding another, it would be no different from playing with inanimate dolls. It is precisely because they are not omniscient that humans live close to one another, seeking connection.
There was no need to fully understand oneself, either. One simply had to live as they were.
All that was needed was the power to protect. Only that.
‘I will fill it.’
His domain was still empty. He had brought the surrounding space under his absolute control, but that was only a half-complete domain.
Just like stars rising above Astral Qi, a domain required a mental imagery befitting its master.
It wasn’t difficult.
He simply had to project the desperate desires of his heart—the mental imagery already residing deep within him—into the physical domain.
‘What I desire is…’
Peace within the fence. The power to lock away precious things behind high walls and ruthlessly tear apart any external enemies that dared approach.
The mental imagery was instantly imbued into the domain.
Seo-jun gave a name to the domain he had just completed.
“Ideal World.”
Fwaaaaaaaa—
A gentle wind blew. The Giryeon Sect Leader stared blankly at his surroundings.
A vibrant blue sky, a firm earth, the sun and moon forming day and night, a flowing river, a vast sea where the rivers gathered, fragrant plum blossoms blooming across green meadows, and lightning flashing amidst pristine white clouds.
It was a complete, singular world.
‘How?’
How could someone who had just stepped into the Transcendent Realm construct such an impossibly solid domain?
No, before that—could a single human’s mental imagery truly be this diverse and flawless?
The Giryeon Sect Leader’s expression froze in utter terror.
At that moment, Seo-jun reached out.
It was his own domain. He had instinctively realized exactly how to control it the moment he unfolded it.
Led by Seo-jun’s simple gesture, the sky itself fell.
Emperor Sword Form.
“Urgh…!”
The Giryeon Sect Leader frantically dodged and formed a hand seal. Space violently warped and enveloped his body in an attempt to protect him.
KOOOOOOOOOONG—!!
The Giryeon Sect Leader’s body was mercilessly slammed into the ground. Seo-jun casually flicked his finger upward. The earth surged.
Tyrannical Power Ghost God Art.
KWA-AAAAANG—!!
A colossal fist formed from the earth struck the Giryeon Sect Leader head-on. The Giryeon Sect Leader was sent flying, barely managing to land on the surface of the sea. Chwaak! White foam rose along the long trail of his dragging feet.
“You arrogant…!”
The Giryeon Sect Leader immediately formed another hand seal.
But Seo-jun was faster. He didn’t even give the man the chance to complete the seal. He clenched his hand. Kwareureuk! The sea flowed smoothly, instantly pulling the Giryeon Sect Leader into its depths.
White River Returning to the Ocean.
“Guh…!”
The Giryeon Sect Leader desperately warped space to escape the crushing waters. Flutter— delicate plum blossoms scattered in a light breeze.
Seo-jun’s finger traced a soft, elegant line through the air.
Plum Blossom Sword Technique.
The Giryeon Sect Leader’s lips trembled uncontrollably at the sight of the countless razor-sharp plum blossoms surrounding him.
“This is insane…”
The Giryeon Sect Leader swung both hands forcefully. Ripples of space, unraveled thread by thread, desperately pushed the deadly plum blossoms away.
Pa-ang!
Simultaneously, he tried to fire the space he controlled as a weapon. However, the space remained completely motionless, as if it had been frozen solid.
‘What the hell is this…’
To manipulate space, one needed a medium. That medium was Qi. But the Qi here had entirely escaped the Giryeon Sect Leader’s control. Even if his strength was severely depleted from the battle with Namgung Jin-cheon, this made absolutely no sense.
“You arrogant brat who still smells of your mother’s milk…!”
The Giryeon Sect Leader glared at Seo-jun with murderous intent. Seo-jun coldly stared back at him.
Those glowing crimson eyes. The very moment the Giryeon Sect Leader’s body flinched in fear, Seo-jun’s hands—which had been pointing to the sky and the earth—joined as one.
Primordial Unity Sun-Moon Art.
A single world converged into a singular point. Heaven and earth mixed; the sea, wind, river, clouds, sun, moon, and all things in the world rapidly returned to their primordial state.
The Giryeon Sect Leader’s eyes trembled violently. All things surrounding him drew a massive Taiji and gathered toward one inescapable point.
He felt like he knew exactly what this was.
What happens when you forcefully trap an infinitely expanding Taiji into a single, dense point?
The answer was horrifyingly simple.
KWAAAAAAAAAAAAANG—!!!
An apocalyptic explosion swallowed the world.
*
Seo-jun looked at the place where the Giryeon Sect Leader had just been standing. Nothing existed in that empty space.
‘Try and run all you want.’
He still hadn’t escaped Seo-jun’s domain.
Fwah!
Pitch-black Demonic Qi rose from Seo-jun’s entire body, and three ominous flowers bloomed above him.
Crackle! Crunch!
The three flowers soon fragmented into countless petals, and those petals viciously chewed and swallowed the corpses scattered across the desert.
They were the corpses of the three Transcendent Realm masters who had already died in the previous battle.
‘It’s a shame.’
Seo-jun did not know how to seize a soul that had already left its body. However, it was an entirely different story if they weren’t dead yet.
‘Perhaps my father-in-law…’
Seo-jun pondered the possibilities for a brief moment but then shook his head. It was a meaningless hypothetical to dwell on right now.
Instead, he focused on what he needed to see.
The Giryeon Sect Leader was fleeing in a desperate hurry. Every single movement within the domain was as clear to Seo-jun as if he were looking at the palm of his own hand.
Seo-jun’s eyes narrowed dangerously.
As he fully adapted to the Transcendent Realm, a profound change was occurring within him.
The Transcendent Realm and the Extreme Demon.
The two disparate realms were slowly, inevitably achieving perfect unity.